The parents of an 11-year-old girl who died during a tragic Ferris wheel accident filed a lawsuit against Morey's Piers on Thursday.
Twanda and Byron Jones filed the suit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. While the suit doesn't specify an amount being sought, it asks for a jury trial.
Back on June 3, Abiah Jones plummeted to her death from the Ferris wheel at Morey’s Mariner’s Landing Pier in Wildwood, N.J.
While a preliminary report found no mechanical problems with the ride, Abiah’s parents say that a child her age should not have been sent 156 feet in the air by herself without any restraints.
“We think there should be a restraint system that prevents somebody from falling out,” said Larry Bendesky, an attorney for the Jones’.
The family believes that bars or a cage would have kept Abiah inside the gondola.
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs released a preliminary report suggesting that Abiah may have been kneeling or standing on the gondola's seat or leaning out too far when she fell, according to the Daily News.
The Ferris wheel was closed for two weeks after the accident but reopened on Saturday, June 18. They instituted a minimum of two riders per vehicle and increased height requirements from a minimum of 54 inches to a minimum of 60.
